


Banana Fish episode codas

by lostemotion (geckoholic)



Category: Banana Fish (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Character Study, Episode Tag, Flash Fic, Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-12
Updated: 2018-08-12
Packaged: 2019-06-26 11:30:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 710
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15662355
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/geckoholic/pseuds/lostemotion
Summary: Quick episode codas for one word prompts.





	1. beauty

**Author's Note:**

> I don't know yet how regularly I'll post these. But I wanna play with these characters a little, get a feel for them while canon is still unfolding (I haven't read the manga), so I guess we can call these characterization practice. 
> 
> Feel free to lob more prompt words at me, here or on twitter or tumblr (linked in the end notes), or on discord if you run into me there (hi banana fish server XD) and I shall see if something comes out of them.

They keep shouting at his cell that first night, despite repeated yet halfhearted warnings from the guards. Things like “hey gorgeous” and “pretty princess” and a bunch of more illustrative pet names fill the stale prison air, and Ash closes his eyes against the familiar lingo. His beauty has always been both a curse and a gift. It helped seal his fate six years ago, when Dino found him. But in a more abstract way, it also saved his life.

The kind of human merchandise that Dino peddles isn’t exactly available in excess and they would have taken him either way, pretty or not. There are enough of the old man’s costumers that only care about having a warm, underage hole to fuck, too desperate to be picky. Ash knows that his looks made him stick out. They reeled the Dino in, and helped to keep him wanted, keep him desired, keep him alive. They remain a useful tool, and he uses them without second thought; they owe him that much. It’s getting easier and easier to ignore the memories carried by that kind of compliment, too. He can’t afford to be so easily distracted, can’t be so weak. He can’t afford to remember.

And so he doesn’t. He shoves the thought away and shifts on his cot, and he tries to get at least some sleep.


	2. justice

A few hours into their journey to California, Ash listens in on a conversation between Eiji and Ibe. Max is driving, prattling on about one of his past research trips while his fingers drum a beat on the steering wheel, and they probably assume Ash's attention bound by that. It's not; Ash already learned to tune him out when they were cellmates, and he understands that not all of Max's stories need an audience. Sometimes he just seems to want to talk louder than his thoughts. 

And so Ash rests his cheek on the hot glass of the passenger side window, curls into a more comfortable position, and strains his ears to catch the murmured words exchanged between his two remaining travel companions. As it turns out, it's another attempt of Ibe's to save Eiji's innocence. That's actually a mission Ash fully supports – for all his posturing about Eiji not being able to defend himself, he likes Eiji's innocence, made his own attempts to preserve it and send him away. But there's a pull, as well, the need to keep him safe at war with the need to keep him close. 

Ibe, meanwhile, is going on about how taking the law into their own hands like this is rarely the right solution. Justice will prevail in most other cases. The police. Criminal prosecution. Laws and courts. They work, Ibe insists. When they're back home, he promises, he'll teach Eiji more about it. Maybe even find him another internship. His parents might approve of such a career for him. 

The look Eiji shoots him in reply is priceless, and Ash has to bite his lip to keep from chuckling. He's not even sure Ibe believes his own bullshit, and it appears that Eiji is thinking the same thing. Their conversation peters out not long after that, and Ash closes his eyes, lets his thoughts drift. 

_Justice._. From the very first assault back when he was seven, the law never held any of the men who stole a piece of his soul responsible. A few of them paid for it, one way or another: money, favors to Dino, the loss of their reputation, occasionally they paid with their lives. He still remembers the stale taste of second-hand satisfaction when he saw a report about former costumers getting sold out to the police when they refused to pay up. But that wasn't justice. It wasn't for him. It was for Dino's benefit, a business decision, nothing more. 

And that was fine, for a while. He got used to it, taught thoroughly that his body isn't his own, and that the wrong that was done to him doesn't warrant that kind of payback. But all this, their journey, taking revenge on Dino, uncovering Banana Fish, it's not about him. It's about Griffin, and that's unforgivable. In this case, he'll be prosecutor, judge, and executioner all in one.

**Author's Note:**

> Find me on [tumblr](http://lostemotion.tumblr.com) or [twitter](https://twitter.com/spacenerdz).


End file.
